


sweet repression (can't hide who you really are)

by advanced_fanatic



Series: don't pretend that you're better than this--malevolence goes both ways [2]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Anime), IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Attempt at Humor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Kujou Ten-centric, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Reconciliation, Sibling Bonding, Sibling Love, Siblings, Sorry it took so long!, Sort Of, because i am obsessed with them, because yeah this was always in the works lol, but mainly fixing what i broke in my last fic, like not fixing anything that's broken in canon, my usual bullshit contact names, or at least an attempt at it, or well i guess sort of, slight angst, spot the mechanisms reference, the fix-it sequel to 'wash my hands turn my back', trigger is populated by two idiots and a mom friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28908018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/advanced_fanatic/pseuds/advanced_fanatic
Summary: After Black or White, Tenn searches for a way to fix things with Riku. Meanwhile, Riku's been doing some soul-searching and Gaku and Ryuu each have their own suspicions about the identity of Riku's brother.
Relationships: Izumi Iori & Izumi Mitsuki, Izumi Iori & Nanase Riku, Izumi Iori/Nanase Riku, Kujou Aya & Kujou Ten, Kujou Aya & Yotsuba Tamaki, Kujou Ten & Nanase Riku, Kujou Ten & Tsunashi Ryuunosuke, Kujou Ten & Tsunashi Ryuunosuke & Yaotome Gaku, Kujou Ten & Yaotome Gaku, Nanase Riku & Yaotome Gaku
Series: don't pretend that you're better than this--malevolence goes both ways [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2120118
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	sweet repression (can't hide who you really are)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bumbliinqbee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumbliinqbee/gifts).



The day after Black or White, Tenn still felt like shit. He wasn’t quite sure what, in the end, had brought this exact feeling on--his brother’s words, the fact that he’d decided to walk back in the cold, despite the fact that it started sleeting, or the fact that once he’d gotten back to Kujo’s house he’d broken into the liquor cabinet and drank himself unconcious, or any combination of the three, but he guessed it wasn’t important. The fact of the matter was that he was currently lying under his bed, with a throbbing head and an aching heart, and he was fairly certain he’d caught a cold, too.

...He’d caught a cold just by walking home last night...Riku seemed like he was trying to run home...what if he’d been hospitalized? Oh, God, his inhaler! Tenn still had it!

Tenn pushed himself up, and immediately recoiled, hissing curses as his head banged against the bottom of his bed. He slowly pulled himself out, cursing more as bright sunlight accosted his eyes. How late was it…?

His phone lay abandoned near his bed, and Tenn unlocked it, groaning when the battery read 2%. Seriously, he couldn’t have done  _ anything _ useful last night? With his luck, he might have even sent weird, needy drunk texts to Gaku and Ryuu--or, even worse, sent something for Gaku to send to  _ Riku. _

Then he noticed the time: 2 PM.  _ Fuck.  _ It was almost certainly too late to bring Riku’s inhaler to him,  _ and _ he’d probably missed practice--did they have practice today? They usually did, but they’d just won Black or White, and Anesagi had said if they did that, she’d try to get them a day off to celebrate. Tenn really,  _ really _ hoped that she had. If not...well, that was just another way he’d fucked up, wasn’t it?

He plugged in his phone and, to his dismay and then relief, noticed that the messaging app had been deleted. He guessed that he must have decided to delete it so that he couldn’t drunk text his bandmates, which was good, but now he had to go through all the trouble of redownloading it with a throbbing head and a dry, aching throat, and God he was  _ never _ drinking again.

Luckily, though, it redownloaded itself without too much trouble as the texts started rolling in.

First off: Anesagi. She had indeed given them the day off, which was good--Tenn wasn’t sure if he was even able to drag himself off of the floor, let alone make it to practice and act as though he was totally fine, especially since it usually started at eleven.

Next: the Trigger group chat, which had a bunch of texts--clearly Gaku and Ryuu were talking about something, and Tenn could only hope that it wasn’t Riku. If it came down to it, he knew that he would want Gaku to choose his brother over him--Riku deserved friends as loyal and protective as Gaku--but he also knew that there was no fucking way that would happen, because...Gaku was loyal and protective as fuck, and Tenn had been his friend first and they spent more time together, and he was almost certain Gaku didn’t have any pet names for Riku. 

His suspicions were immediately confirmed when he started reading through the texts.

**CHAT: sanity has no meaning in this place**

**dickass:** so he’s not answering my texts abt last night which is just fucking. great. 

**dickass:** seriously if it turns out he has a genuine problem with either of you i’m dropping him like a hot fucking potato what happened last night was NOT cool

**the** **evil child:** Maybe he saw his brother and panicked? Everyone who’s everyone at the idol scene was there, and I know I saw some other aspiring idols around when we introduced ourselves. Maybe he saw him and thought you were trying to introduce his brother to him and that’s why that happened?

**dickass:** i mean i wouldn’t do that tho

**the evil child:** idk, you are kind of a dick

**dickass:** youre breaking my heart babe

**the evil child:** What heart my love

**sanity:** guys stop seriously I am SO hungover

**the evil child:** Oh mood

**dickass:** WAIT DID LITTLE BABY TENN HAVE HIS FIRST DRINK WITHOUT US????

**the evil child:** Why would I want to have my first drink with you?

**dickass:** bABE that’s so mEAN

**the evil child:** Consider my username

**dickass:** i mean fair

**sanity:** the fact that you’re “the” evil child does imply that you aren’t the only child gaku knows

**dickass:** yeah i have riku saved as “the sweet child”

**the evil child:** Oh yeah he totally seemed sweet last night

Tenn winced after he sent that. He should not have said that! What if Gaku showed these texts to Riku?

**dickass:** hes not normally like that. but i WILL talk to him and sort shit out he shouldn’t have yelled at you guys like that

Tenn, personally, disagreed, but only because Riku was  _ his _ brother, and he  _ had _ abandoned him, technically. He’d done it all for him--he wanted to pay his medical bills, their parents could barely afford to care for two children now that the club was gone even without Riku’s medical issues, let alone two children with one in and out of the hospital nearly every week! But he guessed Riku didn’t know that--he’d never said so when he left, and, well, in hindsight it could have seen a lot more malicious than it actually was…

The question, Tenn decided, was whether or not to actually  _ correct _ that assumption. He guessed it would have to be decided on whether or not he or Riku revealed their relation to Gaku, which Tenn  _ definitely _ didn’t want to do. Not only would that be an incredibly awkward conversation that involved way more emotional vulnerability than Tenn was really comfortable with, and it would lose a friend for Riku, which was  _ definitely _ unacceptable. He only hoped that his brother would feel the same way.

Tenn ignored the last text, which was from the hospital. He knew that there was no way it was about Riku--legally, they were no longer related, and he had to have been hospitalized multiple times in the past four years. And, honestly, if it had something to do with a congratulations or a follow-up appointment for the last time he’d collapsed from exhaustion and overwork, he didn’t want to hear it.

In the coming weeks, he would never quite figure out whether or not he regretted not opening the text, but for now, he dragged himself downstairs, poured himself a glass of water, and resigned himself to waiting this hangover out.

  
  


Izumi Iori was  _ pissed. _ Right now, he had no target for his anger--just a nebulous rage that came out in slashes of icing on their baked goods and overly enthusiastic kneading. His brother Mitsuki, sitting at the counter, snuck concerned glances at him from time to time, but Iori refused to look up, slamming his fists again and again into the dough.

“He’s going to be alright, you know,” Mitsuki said.

“I don’t, actually,” Iori muttered.

“He’s in the hospital now, they’re taking care of him.”

“We don’t know how long he was collapsed there, though!” Iori shouted. “And Gaku isn’t answering my texts, because he had a big night last night and is probably sleeping in, so we have  _ no _ idea what happened at the concert.”

“Well, it ended at 11, right?” Mitsuki said. “And we found Riku at 3, and he was about an hour’s walk from the venue. The absolute longest he could’ve been there is three hours if he went to the subway station immediately after Black of White ended, and that’s probably wrong, too, since it takes a while to get out of the venue  _ and _ he was going to be meeting the other Trigger members.”

“It takes, on average, fifteen to twenty minutes to get out of an idol concert,” Iori said, “although you’ve never dragged me  _ there _ so I don’t know exactly how long it took Riku. We’d know more  _ clearly _ if Gaku bothered to  _ fucking respond to my texts and tell me why we found my boyfriend passed out in a subway station at three in the morning, barely breathing!” _

The bell jangled as the door opened. Iori swore roundly and started slamming the dough against the counter again.

“Hi, welcome to Fonte Chocolat--Gaku!” Mitsuki blurted.

“Fucking finally!” Iori rounded the counter. “What the  _ hell _ happened last night?”

“I was coming to ask that myself,” Gaku said. “Where’s Riku?”

“In the hospital,” Mitsuki said. 

Gaku’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?”

“Didn’t you get my texts?” Iori demanded.

“I mean, yeah, but I didn’t read them yet. Apparently Tenn had his first drink last night, and I’ve been teasing him about it all morning. What happened?”

“Tenn?” Iori echoed, a terrible suspicion clawing its way up his chest. That was Riku’s twin’s name, wasn’t it? What if…?

“Kujo Tenn, he’s Trigger’s center,” Mitsuki explained.

“I see.” Iori kept his suspicions to himself. Once Gaku was gone, he could ask Mitsuki more about the idol, but for now, he needed to find out what had happened to Riku. “Anyway, around 2 AM Riku’s parents contacted us, saying he hadn’t come home and wasn’t answering their texts, and they wanted to know if he was over here. He wasn’t, so we went looking for him, and eventually found him passed out in a subway station about an hour’s walk from the Black or White venue, barely breathing. He’s in a coma right now, but he’s pretty high on the Glasgow scale and should wake soon, but we still don’t know what happened or why.”

“Shit,” Gaku said. “Uh, there was an...incident last night that I wanted to ask him about. I last saw him at around 11:30.”

“Exactly?” asked Iori.

“I don’t know, I wasn’t really staring at my watch the entire time,” Gaku said. 

“What was the incident?” Mitsuki asked.

“I was introducing my bandmates to him, and then he called us assholes? Or one of us an asshole? And then he bolted, and Tenn and I went after him--apparently he’d dropped his inhaler and Tenn wanted to return it--and then he started yelling about his brother? And his abandonment issues, and such. And then he ran off again. I wanted to ask what was up with that. Tenn says there were a lot of other idols and aspiring idols around, and that he might have seen his brother and thought I was on good terms with him and gotten upset or something, but...I just wanted to ask him what was up.”

“Hey,” Mitsuki said slowly, “wasn’t Riku’s brother’s name--”

Iori stomped on his foot. “That’s interesting,” he said. “We’ll definitely keep you updated on Riku’s condition. Do you have any more information on the incident? For example, when did he start freaking out? Was he speaking as though his brother was there, or what?”

“It was right after I introduced Tenn,” Gaku said.

Well, fuck, Iori thought. There’s another red string for the ‘Kujo Tenn is Riku’s asshole twin’ theory!

“He wasn’t speaking as though his brother was there, I don’t think. He was upset about...actually, I don’t know what he was upset about, he was yelling about how he didn’t care about the different aspects of being an idol and then how he missed his brother, and then he started talking about how he felt worthless...you don’t think he attempted suicide, do you?” Gaku looked genuinely worried, which Iori couldn’t properly appreciate, because he hadn’t even considered that possibility before now.

“Oh God,” he whispered. “I’m going to the hospital. Now.”

“Iori, he’s not even up yet,” Mitsuki said. “His parents said they’d call us when he was ready for visitors, remember? And he hasn’t been acting off at all lately.”

“Other than whatever that was last night,” Gaku said.

“Maybe the coma or whatever was already messing with his head when that happened,” Iori suggested, lying through his teeth. 

“Oh, that does make a lot of sense,” Gaku said. “I’ll have to tell the others...do you know if he’ll be ok?”

“The doctors think so,” said Mitsuki. “He’s in and out of the hospital a lot, so they’re pretty familiar with his condition, even though he still hasn’t been able to see a specialist.”

“That’s good,” Gaku said. “You’ll let me know if anything changes, right?”

“Of course,” Iori said. “Would you like a cookie or something before you leave?”

“No thanks, I really shouldn’t,” Gaku replied. “Uh--I’ll see you around, I guess.”

“Yeah, see you,” Iori said, waving a little as Gaku left. As soon as he was sure he was gone, he flipped the sign on the door to ‘Closed’ and turned to face his brother. “I need a picture of Kujo Tenn. The clearest one you’ve got.”

“I don’t actually have any,” Mitsuki admitted. “They only really started going all over the internet  _ after _ we found out who Gaku was, so I haven’t really saved anything out of respect for him. But I’m guessing you noticed it, too?”

“That their center shares a first name with Riku’s twin and a last name with someone behind most of the idol scenes?” Iori said. “Yeah. Did  _ you _ notice that he clearly came here to confront Riku over yelling at the other two members of Trigger?”

“Are you sure?” Mitsuki said. “If Kujo Tenn is really Nanase Tenn, why wouldn’t he take Riku’s side?”

“Are you kidding?” Iori said. “Mitsuki, if it came down to the wire, who would you choose: Riku, who you’ve been friends with for  _ literal _ years, or one of Mom and Dad’s part-time workers, even one you were on good terms with?”

“I think Riku’s more of a friend to Gaku than an employee,” Mitsuki pointed out. “I mean, he got him the Trigger CDs  _ and _ a ticket to Black or White for free.”

“Still, he was pretty clearly doing it so that Riku would get along with the people he likes better,” Iori said. “He likes him just fine, but it’s the other members of Trigger who are his  _ really _ close friends. If Kujo Tenn is Nanase Tenn, then he’d definitely choose him over Riku, and I do  _ not _ want to see Riku hurt because of that--any more than he already is, at any rate. So we can’t tell Gaku our suspicions--especially since, at this point, they’re only that.”

“Fine,” Mitsuki said. “But what would you do with a picture of Kujo Tenn if you had one? Riku already mentioned that he and his Tenn are fraternal.”

Iori shrugged. “Even siblings that don’t look anything like each other share more features than they’re aware of,” he said. “Besides, I saw some baby pictures of Riku and his Tenn when I was over at his house for dinner the other night, and let me tell you, if it wasn’t for their hair colors I’d swear on my life that the Nanase twins were identical. If I find a close-up, clear picture of Kujo Tenn, a simple test would tell if I’m correct or not.”

“You mean Photoshop?” Mitsuki said.

“I mean Photoshop.”

“Alright, open the store back up and go back to the bread. I’ll find you your picture,” Mitsuki told him.

Iori sighed with relief, flipping the sign back to ‘Open’. “Thanks, big brother,” he said, heading back to his dough.

“It’s been a while since I had to hunt down hi-res photos of some idol or other,” Mitsuki replied. “Thanks for giving me something to pass the time.”

The time, as it turned out, was less than ten minutes, and Mitsuki was grinning in triumph as he produced a scarily high-quality photo of Kujo Tenn and waved it at Iori. “Once the bread is proofing, I’ll send it to you!” he called.

“You know a good way to motivate me to finish fast,” Iori replied, grinning slightly and giving the dough a few last good flips before placing it in the pan and putting a towel over it. “Alright, I’m ready!”

He washed his hands quickly and pulled out his phone. The picture...yeah, Kujo Tenn looked so much like Riku it was honestly a surprise that none of them had noticed before--especially Gaku, who spent so much time with Kujo and had even seen the twins side by side--although it had been dark out, so Iori guessed he had an excuse. Still, though, he went over to Photoshop and recolored Kujo Tenn’s hair so that it was Riku’s shade, and then let out another curse as a face nearly identical to his boyfriend’s gazed cooly out at him.

“Is it him?” asked Mitsuki.

“Yep. Kujo Tenn of Trigger is Riku’s asshole twin brother.” Iori turned the phone towards Mitsuki. “You can see the resemblance, can’t you?”

“Ugh, yeah, I can.” Mitsuki glared at the phone. “Please change it back, I don’t want to see that asshole looking any more like our Riku than he already does!”

“Ugh, I know.” Iori turned the phone back to face him and undid the color change. “Seriously, it’s bad enough that he’s been such a dick to Riku...and every time he looks in the mirror, he probably has to be reminded of him, too.”

“Someone should mess that face up for good,” Mitsuki muttered. 

“Somebody would probably get sued to the moon and back if he tried,” Iori warned, deleting the picture from his phone.

“Honestly?” Mitsuki sighed, turning back to the door. “It’d almost be worth it.” The bell rang as the door opened, and Mitsuki sat up straight, putting on his customer service persona. “Hi, welcome to Fonte Chocolat! Is there anything I can help you with today?”

  
  
  


**CHAT: sanity has no meaning in this place**

**dickass:** so i actually have a reasonable explanation for riku’s behavior last night

**the evil child:** Oh? Do tell.

Tenn was sure that he knew what Gaku’s answer would be--he was Tenn’s twin, he hated Tenn, now Gaku would either completely cut off Tenn’s beloved little brother or try to juggle things between the two of them by neglecting Riku more and more…

**dickass:** brain damage

**the evil child:** I’m sorry, what?

**dickass:** i wasn’t able to speak with him because he’s apparently in a coma, but i did get in contact with his boyfriend and the boyfriend’s older brother, and they said that it was probably whatever caused the coma that caused him to act out

**the evil child:** I’m sorry, FUCKING WHAT?

**dickass:** it makes sense! i mean riku doesn’t normally act that way and i’m p sure u need brain damage to go into a coma

Tenn was pretty sure he knew where the brain damage had come from--an asthma attack, a terrible one, one so bad no oxygen could get to his brain--but he decided not to correct Gaku on that. After all, it was quite the convenient explanation for Riku’s actions last night, and it meant that his brother wouldn’t lose anyone else.

But...a coma. A coma caused by an asthma attack that went too far because Riku didn’t have his inhaler because Tenn, for all intents and purposes, stole it from him. And then he’d gone and gotten drunk instead of dealing with his emotions, and had been too much of a coward to chase after his brother and force him to take the inhaler. Tenn had always been the one taking care of Riku, always, whether it was with tea and medicine from the side of his bed or selling himself to Kujo to pay for his treatment, and now?

Now he was the one putting him in the hospital.

**the evil child:** Yes, that’s true. I just wasn’t expecting that to be the reason. I had assumed it had something to do with his brother.

**dickass:** funny, mitsuki said something similar! i mean i think it was in response to me asking if he attempted suicide tho…

Tenn thought his heart stopped in his chest for a moment. Suicide? Was that even possible? Riku had always been so happy, so full of life, and he had a boyfriend and good friends and...but he’d been upset, and hurt, and... _ I’m weak and pathetic and everything he isn’t...I’m worth nothing... _ that wasn’t true! Well, sure, Riku  _ was _ weak, but that didn’t make him pathetic, it just made him someone Tenn had to protect! And he was worth  _ everything _ to Tenn, that was why he was even here! Tenn loved being an idol, loved everything about it, but he hadn’t when he was ripped away from his family--when he chose to  _ abandon _ his brother. He had done that for money, money for Riku’s treatment, money so that he could live a good and happy life. 

A good and happy life wouldn’t have his brother committing suicide, though…

**sanity:** wait, suicide? 

**dickass:** idk, neither of the boys had thought about it like that before and riku’s in a coma rn so it’s not like we can ask him either

**sanity:** fair

Tenn slowly lowered his phone. This...this wasn’t ok. He had to see Riku as soon as possible, he had to! He had to...to…

What could he do? Kujo would never let him contact Riku, ever, even if Riku was...even if Riku had…

That was probably why the hospital had contacted Tenn, actually. They remembered him, and remembered that he and Riku were twins, and wanted to let him know that Riku was in a coma, and that he’d tried to...he’d tried to…

And it was all Tenn’s fault, all of it, if only he’d been a good brother or run after him or tried at  _ all _ to keep in contact! He had tried to play it safe, to keep  _ Riku _ safe from Kujo, but...he had never even considered that he would have to keep Riku safe from  _ himself. _

Tenn knew what he had to do. He was going to have to return Riku’s inhaler--no, he’d get him a new one, a better one, so that this wouldn’t happen again, ever again. Unless it was...but no, Tenn couldn’t even think about that.

Tenn ended up worrying about it long into the night.

It was a day and a half later that Riku finally woke up. Iori heard about it on his lunch break at school, and managed to pester Mitsuki into covering his shift at Fonte Chocolat so that he could go straight to the hospital after school.

Riku was silent when Iori arrived, laying curled on his side with his arms clutched as tightly around himself as he could make them without dislodging his IV, and Iori was reminded suddenly and without warning of the day they’d met, of rounding the corner and seeing a cute boy sobbing his heart out on the floor, hugging his knees to himself, as Mitsuki held him and tried to soothe him.

Iori felt another hot flash of hatred for Kujo Tenn.

He smiled at Riku, though. “Good afternoon,” he said, sitting down in one of the chairs next to his boyfriend’s bed. He guessed that Riku’s parents had been in earlier, although they were probably at work now. Losing their club had been hard on the Nanase family, he knew, and whatever lottery they had won at the time (which lottery, neither Iori nor Riku knew; the Nanase parents had been tight-mouthed about it and it probably wasn’t too important in the grand scheme of things, anyway) hadn’t gone far. 

Riku looked up at him, and mustered a small, tired smile. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t apologize,” Iori scolded him. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Riku shrugged, a little. “It...kinda was, actually. I chose to run,  _ and _ I chose to leave my inhaler behind, and…”

“You what?!” Iori exclaimed. “Riku, that’s so dangerous!”

Riku grimaced. “Yeah, I know, but...I dropped it, when I saw  _ him, _ and then  _ he _ picked it up, and…”

“So it was your brother there,” Iori said. “Kujo Tenn, right?”

Riku nodded. “Does everyone know now?”

“Just me and Mitsuki,” Iori said. “Also, there’s apparently a large trade for hi-res photos of idols, and I have now seen your brother’s face more clearly than I  _ ever _ wanted to.”

Riku frowned. “What?”

“Mitsuki contacted some other fans and got a  _ very _ clear photo of your brother, and I messed around with Photoshop to see how much he looked like you, and that’s how we figured it out,” Iori said. “We haven’t told anyone, though. Not even Gaku, so you don’t have to worry about him taking your brother’s side.”

“Tenn might’ve told him, though,” Riku said.

“Doubtful, according to Gaku they’d been texting all morning and I don’t think he’d mentioned you at all,” Iori told him. “Especially since Gaku came to, uh. Confront you over going off on your brother last night?  _ I _ think that was a ‘good-for-you’ kind of situation, personally, because your brother’s an ass, but clearly Gaku doesn’t see him that way.”

“It didn’t feel good for me,” Riku said softly.

“What?”

“Yelling at him, and leaving. It didn’t  _ feel _ good. I had always thought it would, you know, telling him how I felt about the whole thing and then leaving him behind like he left me. I thought I’d feel  _ triumphant, _ but now…” Riku trailed off.

“Now?” Iori prompted after a few moments.

“Now I just feel  _ worse.” _ Riku teared up a little. “I don’t...I thought it was what I wanted, to leave him behind the way he left me, but...he didn’t care. At  _ all. _ And...last night, when I saw him again...I realized that leaving him and hurting him was never what I wanted, not really. What I wanted was for him to not have left in the first place. What I wanted was for him to love  _ me _ as much as I love  _ him, _ instead of wishing I hated  _ him _ as much as he hates  _ me.” _

“You still love him?” Iori said.

“Yeah.”

“That’s…” he sighed, trailing off. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” Riku said quietly, uncurling himself just enough to hold Iori’s hand. “Me too.”

Gaku’s phone chimed around the time Trigger’s practice ended, and Tenn poked his head around him as he picked it up.

“Ooh, who’s texting you?” he said. “A girl?”

“Babe, you’re the only one I’ll ever love,” he told Tenn, slightly disappointed when Tenn only rolled his eyes and got up on his tiptoes to put his chin on Gaku’s shoulder, reaching over and turning on his phone screen.

**Izumi Iori:** Riku is awake.

**Izumi Iori:** I was able to visit him, and he holds no memory of what happened the other night. The doctors believe it’s likely whatever caused the coma was already coming on at the concert, which probably explained his erratic behavior. However, he is recovering well and should be returning home in a few days.

“Who’s Izumi Iori?” asked Tenn, staring at the texts with a slight frown on his face.

“Riku’s boyfriend,” Gaku said. “Have I seriously  _ never _ mentioned  _ any _ of their names to you before?”

“Not once,” Ryuu called. “I’m guessing you got an update on your friend?”

“Yeah, he’s woken up, has no memory of what happened at Black or White, and is set to go home in a few days,” Gaku called back. Tenn stepped away from him, something that sounded like a small sigh or relief coming from his mouth.

“Huh,” said Ryuu. “Are you going to try to introduce us again?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” said Gaku. “I think he sees me a lot more as ‘Gaku the soba guy’ rather than ‘Gaku the idol guy’, and I do try to keep those parts of my life separate.”

“That’s a good idea,” Tenn said. “We probably shouldn’t meet him again, anyway.”

“You said you wanted to meet him, though,” Gaku said. “You said you thought he might be...someone you’d known…”

_ (“Was he speaking as though his brother were there?” Iori asked, frowning slightly.) _

_ (“Hey, wasn’t Riku’s brother’s name--” Mitsuki grimaced as Iori stomped on his foot.) _

_ (“...Tenn?” A strange, troubled expression found its way onto Iori’s face.) _

_ (Riku’s eyes froze on Tenn’s face. “You  _ asshole,” _ he whispered, backing away, dropping his inhaler. “You asshole!”) _

_ (The kid was around Tenn’s age, with bright red hair. He even resembled Tenn a little...similar bone structure, similar haircut...he smiled, though, and Gaku wondered how he had ever thought they looked alike.) _

“Oh my God,” Gaku said.

Tenn rolled his eyes. “I am stopping you right there. I had thought he might be someone I’d gone to school with, and also, he wasn’t the person I was thinking of. Don’t be an idiot, Gaku.”

Gaku grinned at him, relieved. “Please, like I’d ever think you were  _ actually _ his twin. You have a worse case of only child syndrome than me!”

Tenn laughed a little. “No way,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, I have to go now. Unlike  _ some _ people I could mention, I’m a  _ professional.” _

“And an actual infant,” Gaku said.

“Ha ha.” Tenn grabbed his things and left. Ryuu looked after him.

“You know, I did think I saw some similarity between him and Nanase that night,” he said slowly.

Gaku shook his head. “No way. I’ve known them both for years--if they were actually twins, I definitely would have figured it out by now.”

“That is true,” Ryuu said.

“Yeah,” Gaku replied. “Anyway, I should go, too...see you soon!” 

“Yeah, see you!” Ryuu replied. He didn’t move as Gaku left, but once he was alone in the room, he took out his phone, and opened up Photoshop.

  
  


The message from the hospital still sat unread in Tenn’s phone as he put on a hat and mask and headed to Riku’s house--Tenn’s old house--to give his brother his new inhaler. He had timed it perfectly--Riku was going to be out of the hospital soon,  _ and _ Gaku was visiting him right now, so neither of them would see. Tenn was slightly worried about Riku’s boyfriend spotting him, but it wasn’t like he or his brother would be on the lookout for Tenn, so he should be fine.

“...my God, is that fucking Kujo Tenn?” a short, redheaded guy hissed.

...He should be fine if he got away from his fans without them spreading word that he was here.

“No way,” his taller, blue-haired companion whispered back. “What business would  _ he _ have  _ here?” _

Good, they might not actually recognize him. Things could get very awkward very fast if Riku somehow found out he was here, and if he got caught breaking into Riku’s room, not only would that do horrible things to his image, but Kujo would be furious, too.

Tenn did not want to make Kujo furious.

“I don’t know, but look at him! Other than the hair, he looks just like Riku!”

...Fuck. Tenn started power walking away.

“Ugh, you’re right. Hey--brother, no, don’t!”

Tenn looked over to where the taller one was holding the shorter one back. The shorter one was glaring at Tenn and clearly trying to run over to...fight him? Maybe?

Were these the Izumi brothers? If so, which was Riku’s boyfriend? Tenn hoped that it wasn’t the short one currently doing his best to break away from his brother. Riku deserved someone a lot more refined.

The blue-haired brother shot Tenn a glare. “Are you really Kujo Tenn?”

“What’s it to you?” Tenn replied.

“Ugh, his voice...I recognize it from the interviews,” the shorter brother growled. “Iori, let me go!”

Alright, great, Riku was dating the saner one. It was too bad that he still spent time with the more unhinged one, but at least his boyfriend wasn’t completely uncivilized. Still, Riku needed some higher standards.

“Don’t, Mitsuki!” Izumi Iori urged, sounding worried. Then he shot Tenn a dark glare. “Don’t waste your time on  _ trash.” _

“Excuse me, what did you just call me?” Tenn said.

Izumi Iori raised his eyebrows. “What, are you hard of hearing? I called you  _ trash, _ Kujo Tenn. Although in retrospect that is offensive to most trash, which can serve as compost to help plants grow...I mean, I guess you  _ could _ do that if you died, but, alive...yeah, that’s offensive to trash.”

Tenn glared at him. “That’s offensive of  _ you.” _

“Funny, I didn’t know flaming barrels of toxic waste could speak--brother, stop! We don’t want to get sued!” Izumi Iori tightened his grip on his brother.

“Don’t call me that,” Tenn snapped.

Izumi Iori raised his eyebrows. “What can you do to me? You can’t sue me for defamation of character, since I’m only saying it to  _ you. _ You can’t sue either of us for assault, since neither of us are attacking you. The way I see it, you can only do two things: retaliate, or walk away.”

Tenn glared at him. “I can’t believe my brother is dating someone like  _ you,” _ he snapped. “I would have thought he’d have higher standards.”

“They’re certainly high enough to keep  _ you _ out of his life,” Izumi Iori shot back. “He  _ chose _ to date me, just like he  _ chose _ to have nothing more to do with you. Imagine having a brother who doesn’t love you--I certainly can’t!”

Tenn could not think of a proper response to this, so he punched Izumi Iori in the face. He regretted it a moment later, because this meant that both brothers now had free reign to fight him in self-defense, and did so. Izumi Mitsuki got the first strike in, but Izumi Iori was quick to follow. Tenn fought back, of course, for all of two minutes before deciding that discretion was the better part of valor and pretending to have been knocked out. Sure, Gaku had been teaching him the basics of self-defense, but it was two on one, and...they did kind of have a point. Riku  _ did _ hate Tenn now, so of course his boyfriend and boyfriend’s brother would share that emotion. Tenn should be glad, really, that Riku had people in his life that cared about him so much. He just...wished he could be a part of that life.

“Brother, I think if we permanently disfigure him we could actually get sued,” Izumi Iori said after Tenn had been limp for a few moments.

“I don’t care,” Izumi Mitsuki said.

“We might lose the bakery and any...other opportunities that may come to us.”

“...Right,” Izumi Mitsuki sighed. “Hey, is that a box in his pocket?”

“Huh, looks like it.” Tenn felt someone take the box containing Riku’s new inhaler out of his pocket. Shit--now they were going to give it to Riku before Tenn could! This was seriously unfair--next time he tried this, he’d  _ have _ to get a better disguise. “Is that...an inhaler?”

“What?”

“An inhaler. He’s carrying around a brand-new asthma inhaler in his pocket.”

“Asthma does run in families, doesn’t it?” Izumi Mitsuki asked.

“Yeah…” Tenn cracked an eye open. Izumi Iori was frowning down at the inhaler, an unreadable expression on his face. “Well, it’s unopened, and Riku lost his inhaler. Why don’t we give this to him?”

“You’re suggesting we rob him?” Izumi Mitsuki said.

Izumi Iori grinned slightly. “Somehow, I doubt he’ll be reporting it missing.”

  
  


Riku stayed quiet as Gaku described the Black or White concert, conveniently skipping over the argument at the end. He hadn’t been sure about Iori’s idea to pretend that he didn’t remember that night, but it seemed to be working out pretty well now.

“It sounds like it was pretty fun,” he told Gaku, who grinned at him.

“It was! We did amazing, and honestly there’s no feeling better than winning with your best friends--don’t tell Tenn I called him that.”

“Why?” Riku asked. “I mean, you are best friends, right?” Or dating, Riku thought, but didn’t add. It had been pretty clear by the pet name that his friend was, in fact, his brother’s boyfriend, and Riku...really wasn’t sure how he felt about that. After all, Gaku was an adult, and while, yeah, a four year age difference was fine when you were, say, twenty four and twenty eight, it was kind of weird when you were seventeen and twenty one.

Then again, it wasn’t like Riku had any right to comment on his brother’s love life, so he didn’t, even if he had any reasonable way to bring it up.

“Well, yeah, but he’s also a bit of a brat and I don’t want his head to get any bigger than it already is,” Gaku said, with a slight grin. Riku guessed that this was some sort of inside joke between the two of them--maybe it was an idol thing, or maybe it was just a Gaku-and-Tenn thing, but either way it was a thing that didn’t have anything to do with Riku.

“Huh,” Riku said. He opened his mouth to say something else--he didn’t know what, but in the end it didn’t matter, because the door flew open to reveal the bloodied, bruised, and triumphant Izumi brothers.

Mitsuki waved what appeared to be a brand new inhaler in the air. “Guess what we did?” he crowed.

“Hello, Gaku,” said Iori, holding an ice pack to his cheek.

“Hello, Iori. Did you two become a pair of highway robbers or something?” Gaku asked, grinning.

“Close!” Mitsuki sang, tossing the inhaler to Riku. “We jumped and robbed Riku’s twin!”

“You what?!” Riku squeaked.

“Don’t worry, he threw the first punch, we’re not getting sued,” Iori said, heading over to sit on the side of the hospital bed.

Riku laughed. “How’d you manage that?”

“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Iori said smugly. “Anyway--enjoy the spoils of war!”

“You took the inhaler from him?” Riku said. “Why would he have an inhaler? Has he developed asthma?”

“Well, it does run in families,” said Gaku. “If one sibling has it, the other siblings have a higher than average chance of developing some form of it, too.”

Everyone looked at him.

“What?” Gaku said. “Tenn is, like, a massive asthma nerd. I’ve picked up on a thing or two.”

“He is?” Riku asked. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Why would Tenn care at all about asthma, unless…

But he  _ didn’t _ care about Riku. He  _ couldn’t. _ He’d left him! He’d left him and  _ never _ looked back, but...he was a massive asthma nerd. He talked about it enough that Gaku had picked up on “a thing or two”.

Could he...did he maybe not hate Riku entirely?

“Yeah. So your twin probably developed it at some point too.” Gaku raised his eyebrows at Mitsuki and Iori. “And you guys  _ jumped and robbed him? _ That’s insane!”

Iori shrugged. “What can I say? We are men of many talents.”

“Iori, you’re a child.”

Iori shrugged again, just as Gaku’s phone started ringing. He pulled it out, and Riku could see the contact:  **sanity.**

Weird, but not the weirdest name Riku had seen in his phone.

“Hey Ryuu, what’s up?” Gaku asked. His eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Tenn got into a  _ what?!” _

Riku, Iori, and Mitsuki all glanced at each other. This was it--the moment of truth. Gaku would figure out that Riku and Tenn were twins and then never speak to the three of them again (if they were lucky) or physically fight them for hurting Tenn (if they weren’t).

Gaku burst out laughing. “I can’t believe this! This is the funniest fucking shit! First he gets drunk, then he gets into a fight--is he finally entering his teenage rebellion phase?”

Iori took Riku’s hand. Riku squeezed it and surreptitiously slid the inhaler under his sheets.

“Uh, hell yeah I’m on my way! I can’t wait to tease Tenn for starting a fight!” He sighed. “Yeah, yeah, alright, I’ll make sure he’s ok and stuff...but still. This is fucking hilarious!”

Riku, Iori, and Mitsuki slowly relaxed, relieved. 

“Hey, do you know who did it, because I might just send them flowers,” Gaku said. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I was  _ joking. _ Was he really messed up that bad?” He paused. “That’s nothing...although, yeah, Dad’ll be pissed...ooh, and Anesagi’s going to kill him--don’t tell her till I’m there!”

He hung up the phone and turned to the three friends. Mitsuki and Iori immediately tried to look like they hadn’t jumped Tenn less than an hour before. Riku tried to look like he had no idea who Tenn was, actually. He was pretty sure that they looked even more suspicious than if they hadn’t tried to look innocent, actually, but Gaku didn’t seem to notice, snickering to himself as he packed up his things and turned to them.

“I have to go, our center’s gotten his ass beat and I want to see our manager to a recreation of it when she find out, because he is  _ so _ dead. It was nice talking to you guys, congratulations on the highway robbery, see you later!” 

Gaku waved and then left, and the three boys all let out identical sighs of relief and turned to look at each other.

“How did he  _ not _ figure it out then?” Mitsuki wondered out loud.

“I know, I mean...you guys beat up my brother, Tenn gets mysteriously into a fight, I freak out about my brother after seeing Tenn? It doesn’t add up,” Riku said.

“Plus you two are, like, practically identical,” Mitsuki added.

“Maybe he’s in denial,” Iori said. “I mean, he’s known you both for a long time, and I was texting him about your condition earlier, and he mentioned that he views both you and Tenn as younger brother figures. I mean, clearly he prefers Tenn, but still.”

Mitsuki snickered. “Guess you lost one brother and gained two!”

Riku’s smile fell a little. “Guys...I’ve been, uh, thinking. About Tenn. A lot, over the past...well, I was dreaming about him when I was in the coma, so I think that counts? And I thought over the incident at Black or White a bunch when I was alone here, and...I don’t think I hate him anymore.”

“Really?” Iori said.

“Yeah. I mean...for so long, it was just that he’d left me, you know? He left me and he didn’t care and so I shouldn’t care about him. And then I saw him there, and I just...everything I had prepared, everything I’d sworn to myself I would say when I saw him again, I just...forgot it. And I just yelled about how much I’d...missed him. And when I left and he didn’t follow, I didn’t feel good about it like I’d always told myself I would. I just felt worse--like the hurt was there, it’s always there, but...I felt so guilty, too. Like  _ I’d _ hurt  _ him, _ even though he probably didn’t care since he was out drinking with his friends, but...I don’t know. I still love him. I think I still love him, and...I still want him to love  _ me.” _

“...That makes something I said to him earlier pretty problematic, then,” Iori said.

Riku frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well...you know how I managed to goad him into throwing the first punch so we wouldn’t get sued?” Iori said, gesturing to his left eye, which was swollen shut and purple. 

Riku grimaced and nodded.

“Well, he said that your standards must be terribly low to date me, so I told him that your standards were high enough to keep him out of your life. Then I said ‘Imagine having a brother who hates you. I can’t relate!’ or something to that effect.”

“And then he punched him, Your Honor,” Mitsuki quipped.

“That was what pushed him over the edge?” Riku asked quietly. “Saying that I didn’t love him anymore?”

“That’s what it looked like,” Iori said. “I’m sorry, Riku, if I had known that you did still love him, I wouldn’t have said that.”

Riku shook his head. “It’s fine, I mean, I’ve been saying that I don’t love him for years now, there’s no way you could have known. It’s just...that was when he punched you, and...you...you said he was carrying this inhaler?”

“Yeah,” Iori said. “I took it out of his pocket myself.”

“Tenn never had asthma,” Riku whispered, “our parents had him tested multiple times and he was completely empty. And nobody with asthma would walk around with an  _ unopened _ inhaler if they need to walk around with one.”

“You think he was going to visit you?” Mitsuki asked.

Riku stared down at the inhaler, tears glimmering in his eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know  _ what _ to think, and the two people who might know are the two people I definitely can’t ask.”

“Gaku and Tenn,” Iori muttered.

“Exactly,” Riku said.

“Speaking as an older brother,” Mitsuki said, “and more than that, someone who sees  _ you _ as his little brother, I agree that he was probably here for you. Other than the soba shop, which we weren’t near and he wasn’t heading towards, there isn’t really anything here that he would take any interest in unless he was here for you. The only problem, though, is that he was heading in the direction of your house, not the hospital.”

“My house?” Riku said.

“Why, big brother, I thought you  _ hated _ Kujo Tenn,” Iori said.

“Oh, I do,” Mitsuki said. “But I  _ don’t _ hate Riku, and, more than that, if there is a chance that he’ll genuinely apologize, I say let him take it. It’s Riku’s choice what he  _ does _ with the apology, and besides, he deserves at least that much. I don’t have to like Kujo in order to think that him apologizing to Riku is a good thing, actually.”

“This coming from the guy who was practically foaming at the mouth to beat the living shit out of him an hour ago,” Iori said.

Mitsuki shrugged. “What can I say? I got it out of my system.”

“Maybe he was planning on putting the inhaler in the mailbox,” Riku said. “I don’t know why, though...I really can’t see him visiting me at the hospital, he never has before--since, of course, he left. Was there a letter or anything in his pocket?”

“No, just his wallet,” Iori said, “and I didn’t want to get arrested for theft, so I didn’t touch it.”

“Yeah, that...makes sense, I guess,” Riku said. “Maybe he just wanted to replace the inhaler that I lost, and I’m just reading too much into it.”

“Yeah, probably,” said Mitsuki.

“It just shows that you’re the bigger person, though,” Iori said. “I mean, you can find the stregnth to begin to forgive him, and he can’t even speak to you--I think that’s very admirable of you.”

Riku beamed at him. “Thanks,” he said, leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. Iori turned bright red, and Mitsuki snapped a picture, and the day went on.

“You’re  _ sure _ you don’t know who you picked a fight with,” Ryuu said for the umpteenth time as they waited for Gaku to arrive.

“Of course I’m sure,” Tenn snapped, holding the bag of ice to his face. “I would have told you if I did, wouldn’t I?”

“Not if it were related to your brother, you wouldn’t,” Ryuu said.

“I don’t have a brother,” Tenn said immediately.

“I saw the way you looked at Nanase,” Ryuu said quietly. “I’m an older brother too. I can recognize these things.”

Tenn shook his head. “He’s not my brother anymore. I feel nothing for him.”

“We both know that’s not true, Tenn,” Ryuu said. “I know you’re hurt by the way he treated you, but you can’t just ignore your feelings. What he said was awful, but…”

“But nothing,” Tenn snapped. “You know  _ less _ than nothing of what’s happened between us. You have no right to judge me, or him, or anything about this.”

“Why don’t you tell me, then?” Ryuu said. 

“What?”

“Tell me what happened between you and Nanase, so that I  _ can _ understand.” Ryuu leaned forward. “Tenn, I know you’re still upset by what happened, and I saw how worried you were when you learned he was in a coma. Plus, you immediately guessed that he saw his brother and went so far as to insist there were other people around even though you know as well as I do that we were almost completely alone. Obviously you want him to remain friends with Gaku, even it it’s at your own expense. You love him, a lot, and I want you to tell me why, and to tell me why he’s so upset with you.”

“He doesn’t love me anymore,” Tenn whispered. “That’s what his boyfriend said right before I hit him. Riku doesn’t love me anymore.”

“Anymore?”

Tenn sighed. “Fine. Fine, I’ll tell you. We’re twins. I’m about an hour or so older. When we were toddlers, Riku started getting sick-- _ really _ sick. One of my earliest memories is sitting by his hospital bed, while our parents told me what death was and that even if Riku died, he’d always be with me. I remember being so scared, and saying that I would do whatever it took to make sure that that didn’t happen, that he stayed alive. I swore it, that no matter the cost, I’d make sure that my little brother lived. Of course, there wasn’t really anything I could do then, but...anyway. He survived, as I’m sure you could tell, and we were told that he had severe asthma. Our family was never rich, and they couldn’t really afford to take him to good doctors, so they bought him a cheap inhaler and looked into home remedies and called it a day, pretty much. Their club was failing, even then, although it wasn’t too terrible, and so both of our parents worked most of the time, which meant it was my job to take care of Riku. Honestly, most of the time this meant visiting him at the hospital and making sure he didn’t have dairy or anything that triggered his asthma. He was in the hospital a lot, those day. That was how I got into music, actually. One day, when we were five or six, our parents took us to see a performance at their club. I remember looking over at Riku and seeing him...entranced, by the music and the dancers. He looked happier than I could remember seeing him in a really long time. That night, after our parents put us to bed and Riku was asleep, I snuck out of our room and practiced the dances I’d seen. After that, whenever he was stuck inside or in the hospital, I’d sing and dance to cheer him up, and he’d laugh and clap and look so, so happy…” Tenn sighed. “And then, when we were around twelve, Kujo noticed me. I don’t know how--maybe I was practicing on the way home from school, or he heard a rumor, or something, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. He looked into me, and my life, and my family situation, and...well, the club was failing anyway. That wasn’t his fault. It would have had to close, even if he hadn’t interfered. He didn’t do anything wrong there. He  _ didn’t.” _ Tenn paused, for a moment, but Ryuu didn’t interrupt. Tenn was grateful, honestly--every time he tried to defend what Kujo had done to set up the situation where he’d gotten him, it seemed a little harder, a little more like something that you  _ definitely _ shouldn’t do to a middle schooler. “While he was taking care of our club, he took an...interest in me. He would take me out to dinner, to shows. He told me how special I was, how talented, and honestly, it made me feel great. I mean, it wasn’t really anything I hadn’t heard before--Riku told me how amazing I was, all the time, and our parents told me how wonderful it was of me to take such good care of my brother, but...this was a complete stranger, one who didn’t even like my family, and he thought all that about me. He asked me to go with him and become an idol, and, to be honest, the first time, I cursed him out and ran home alone. The next day...Riku’s doctor called us and said he was no longer able to take care of our family because of some bullshit funding excuse. I overheard my parents say something about not being able to afford to get Riku a new doctor with all the troubles the club was going through. I was terrified, but I didn’t tell Riku any of it and I didn’t tell any of them about Kujo’s offer, even when he approached me again a few days later. He apologized, took me to more dinners, shows, performances. Meanwhile, our parents were making less and less money and they weren’t able to find a new job for Riku. Things were getting worse at home, so I started spending more time with Kujo, going home less. When I was home, Riku clung tighter to me, and while I was glad that he was alive to do so, I started to get annoyed. Irritated. Our whole lives, I’d been taking care of him, and now I was doing things for  _ me. _ I couldn’t see why he wasn’t happier for me. And then, a few weeks before the club closed for good, Kujo made the offer again, except this time, he told me that if I came with him, he would pay for Riku’s treatment. I agreed, of course. I didn’t tell him, though. I couldn’t bring myself to. I started spending time at home again, though, and...he was so happy to see me more, that I just couldn’t say that I was leaving. And then the day came that the club closed, and Kujo told me it was time to go. I didn’t even say goodbye, I just walked with him to his car and we left. I could still hear Riku screaming for me as we drove away. Kujo told me that I wasn’t to ever speak to him again, or else he would make sure that Riku’s condition got to be even worse than it would have been had he not paid for his treatment, so...other than Black or White, I’d only seen him one time since. That was a good day, though. I’d just gotten a cake from this bakery’s truck--Fonte Chocolat, it was called--and then I saw him. He looked so happy, and so healthy. He called out to me, but I pretended I didn’t recognize him and left.” Tenn smiled to himself. “That was a really wonderful day.” 

“That...is not what I was expecting,” Ryuu said, eyebrows raised. “Honestly, I thought you two had a falling out over career choices, not that you were literally groomed and then sold yourself to pay for your brother’s medicine.”

“Oh, don’t make it sound so dramatic,” Tenn huffed. “I’m sure plenty of people got into the idol business this way! It’s totally normal, I was just explaining why Riku is so angry with me.”

“I don’t know what planet you come from where that’s  _ normal,” _ Ryuu said, “but--”

“Oh, is Tenn being weird about how he got into a fight?” Gaku called as he opened the door and walked over to them. “Babe, I can’t believe that you’re finally getting into your teenage rebellion phase! Does this have anything to do with what happened to your dad?”

“What?” Tenn said. Seriously, did everything have to blindside him today? What had Kujo pulled  _ now? _

Gaku froze in his tracks. “Wait, you don’t...know?”

“Know what?” Tenn asked.

“Dad said the hospital called you, though…” Gaku frowned at him. “Have you looked through your notifications recently?”

“I make it a habit to ignore all contact from the hospital whatsoever,” Tenn said loftily. “Absolutely nothing they have to say is worth my time.”

“Oh, is that why you collapse from overwork so often?” Gaku said. “But seriously, Tenn, I think you want to listen to this, ASAP.”

“Alright, alright, fine,” Tenn said, unlocking his phone and pulling up the hospital’s message. “Let’s all listen to this together, shall we?”

He pressed on it, and they all listened as an automated message began to play. “Kujo Tenn,” an electronic woman’s voice said, “we regret to inform you that your guardian, Kujo, has passed away. Arrangements to pick up the body can be found at…”

“Oh, fuck yeah!” Tenn exclaimed. “You were right, Gaku, I did want to listen to that ASAP! I think I’m going to donate his body to the university...oh, I’ll have to figure out what t do about Aya...maybe we can find her brother? Eh, I’ll figure it out later...this is great news!”

Gaku blinked at him. “Your father just  _ died,” _ he said.

Tenn shrugged. “He was always kind of a dick,” he said.

“...Right,” Gaku said. He looked over at Ryuu, who just shrugged at him. “Anyway--did you seriously start a fight and then get your ass beat? Are you insane?”

Tenn rolled his eyes. “Are you?” he replied. “You were the one who taught me to fight, after all.”

“Yes, and I can really see how well you’ve taken my lessons to heart,” Gaku muttered. “You know, Dad’s going to kill you, and then he’ll kill whoever beat you up.”

Tenn shrugged. “I’ll just say I was mad with grief and didn’t see who it was,” he said. “Besides, I threw the first punch, so there’s not much he can do about it.”

“I’m starting to wonder about your relationship with your father,” Gaku said.

“Aren’t we all,” Ryuu muttered. “Aren’t we all.”

Ryuu cornered Tenn outside the practice room later that day, after Anesagi and Yaotome had both given him a piece of their minds.

“What are you going to do now?” he asked.

Tenn frowned at him. “What?”

“About your brother. What are you going to do now?”

“...Nothing?” Tenn said. “Look. He wants nothing more to do with me. I’m not going to interfere with that. Besides, Kujo would…” His eyes widened. “Oh.”

“Yeah. You can do what  _ you _ want now, not what he wants you to do.”

Tenn looked up at Ryuu, who was smiling softly at him. “But...I don’t know what I want to do,” he said quietly. 

“Do you want your brother to understand why you left?” asked Ryuu.

“Actually,” Tenn said, “yes, I do.”

“Then talk to him.”

Tenn blinked at Ryuu. “I can’t do that, you know I can’t. He hates me!”

“He might not after you explain yourself,” Ryuu said. “And I can tell that you really do want to speak to him. I’m your friend, Tenn, and you aren’t being even the tiniest bit subtle about it. You said it yourself, you want him to know why you left. For that, all you need to do is find him online and send a message.”

Tenn considered that. “No, I won’t do that,” he said. “I’m not a coward. I’m going to go in disguise and speak to him face to face.”

Ryuu smiled at him. “I’m proud of you, Tenn. That takes a lot of courage.”

“Thanks,” Tenn said. “You want to help me put together the disguise?”

“Of course,” Ryuu told him.

“You know,” Ryuu said, four and a half hours later, “while I understand the desire not to be recognized by any fans while you have this deep, emotional conversation with your brother, if I hadn’t watched you  _ literally _ put on this disguise, I would probably not have recognized you at all.”

“Perfect,” said Tenn, “that is exactly the look I was going for.”

Ryuu blinked at him. “He might not recognize you.”

“Exactly.”

“You...don’t want your brother to know it’s you...while you explain why you left him,” Ryuu said slowly.

“Yes? I don’t see which part of this is hard to grasp, Ryuu,” Tenn said. “He hates me, as do his friends and his boyfriend. Last time I went there, earlier today, said boyfriend and his older brother goaded me into fighting them before wiping the floor with my ass and robbing me. I’m not particularly inclined for the same thing to happen again.”

“Robbing you?” Ryuu said, looking horrifed. “You didn’t tell us that!”

Tenn shrugged. “It was an inhaler for Riku that I had acquired through...less than legal means. It’s not really that big of a deal.”

“You know, I’m liking the sound of these guys less and less,” said Ryuu. “Are you sure it’s safe to go back there?”

“Positive,” Tenn said. “After all, I have my disguise, and I think it’s been pretty clearly established that they won’t throw the first punch. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

Ryuu sighed. “You would know better than me, I guess.”

“You’re right, I do,” Tenn said. He stared at himself in the mirror one more time before starting to remove the disguies. “I’ll go speak to him the next time I have a day off.”

Ryuu smiled at him. “You’re going to do great,” he said. “I believe in you.”

“Thanks,” Tenn replied.

As it turned out, Tenn’s next free day was a few weeks later. Getting rid of Kujo’s body turned out to be a lot more complicated than just donating it to science, since it had been rotting in the morgue for several days before Tenn learned of its demise. He had it cremated, in the end, and scattered the ashes in the smelliest Dumpster he could find along with the girl Kujo had started training, Aya, who was significantly more upset at Kujo’s death than Tenn himself was. He guessed she hadn’t yet learned to fear him--maybe, unlike Tenn, she’d been an only child. He knew that she was an orphan, so perhaps Kujo had been all she’d had.

Before Kujo’s death, he would have envied that, that she could have had such an uncomplicated relationship with him, that she could approach anyone she liked without fear that Kujo would pull a few strings and destroy their lives.

Now he was just annoyed that he would have to find someone to care for her when he went to find his brother.

Luckily, he managed to get into contact with a kid around a year younger than him named Yotsuba Tamaki who was apparently trying to save up money to find his younger sister. The boy was willing to do any job Tenn asked for as long as it paid, and while he was definitely vulgar and uncouth, when Tenn mentioned hiring him to keep an eye on Aya she said it sounded like a wonderful idea and even threatened bodily harm to herself or him if he  _ didn’t _ hire Yotsuba to watch her.

Tenn was sure this was normal thirteen year old behavior and that there was nothing concerning or suspicious at all.

Yotsuba nearly fainted when Tenn introduced them, but he didn’t stick around to see how well the two of them got on, instead hurrying up to his room to put on his disguise and get to Riku as soon as possible.

“What the fuck are you wearing, you look like a totally different twink,” Yotsuba said when he got downstairs.

Tenn shrugged. “Kujo is no longer around to kill my younger brother if I speak to him, so I’m going to go speak to him.”

Yotsuba’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Aya’s and my former guardian, Kujo, died. When he was alive he informed me that if I reached out to my brother or any former family member, he would kill or at least seriously injure my brother. However, he’s two weeks dead, so I’m seeking out my brother.”

“Did Kujo do this to, uh, anyone else?” Yotsuba said.

“If Aya has any siblings, then yes. However, I don’t know or care if she does. If you’ll excuse me, I’m not paying you to speak to me.” Tenn edged around him and towards the door.

“You’re kind of a dick,” said Yotsuba.

“He really is!” Aya chimed in.

Tenn shrugged. “The tabloids won’t believe you if you tell them that,” he said, and closed the door and walked out. It was a quick walk to the train station, and easy enough to ride to Riku’s neighborhood. He kept an eye out for the Izumi brothers--even if they didn’t recognize him, he didn’t really want to cross paths with them again--and made hos way around town, keeping one eye open for his brother.

He found RIku in the park, sitting on a bench and feeding the fish. Tenn glanced at his phone screen to make sure his disguise was still in place--it was, perfectly--and took a deep breath. It was fine. Riku wouldn’t recognize him. Everything was going to be just fine.

He tucked his phone away, straightened his shirt, and walked over to Riku.

“Is this seat taken?” he asked.

Riku glanced over at him, eyes wide. “Um, no,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

“Can I sit here?”

“Yeah...go ahead.” Riku scooted over slightly, to make more room. He looked slightly uncomfortable, although Tenn wasn’t quite sure why. Wasn’t it normal to have random strangers just come up to you and share incredibly personal things about their lives with you? It happened to Tenn, like, all the time.

Tenn sat, though, and waited a few seconds before speaking up again. 

“I have a brother.”

Riku raised his eyebrows. “Really.”

“Yes.” This was a lot more awkward than Tenn had planned for. He was starting to suspect that, actually, most people  _ didn’t _ have experience with random people coming up and sharing their life stories. That didn’t matter, though. He was here, and he was doing this, and it would probably be even weirder if he got up and left now. He had to see this thing through. “I love him, a lot.”

“Really?” Riku asked. He sounded more interested now, which Tenn took as a plus.

“Yes.” What was it he had wanted to say next? Why was he so nervous? Clearly, there was no way Riku could have recognized him. “I...I think I hurt him.”

“You think?” Riku didn’t sound as interested as he had before. His inflection was more like his first “really”, almost...sarcastic, almost bitter. He probably thought this conversation was weird, and honestly, Tenn couldn’t disagree. He was starting to think he should have run this one by Ryuu, who had actually interacted with non-idols in a non-idol environment lately, or Gaku, who spoke to Riku on a semi-daily basis and actually knew what sort of experiences he had. 

But it was too late to back out now.

“I think so. Yes. It makes sense. I didn’t mean to do it.”

“What did you mean to do, then?” Riku asked, sounding interested again. Good. Good, that would make this  _ significantly _ less awkward.

“I mean to protect him. That’s...that was my job, when we were kids. My earliest memory is  _ not _ being able to protect him, and then after that I’ve always done everything I can to help him and keep him safe.”

“Really?” Riku asked. He pulled out a few crumbs of bread, tossed them into the lake.

“Yes. Although I failed at that, recently. I don’t think that’s what he’s mad at me about, though. He seemed angry before that happened.”

“Do you want to...talk about it?” Riku said. He pulled out his phone, out of Tenn’s view, and tapped something on the screen. Tenn guessed he was texting his boyfriend.

“Yes,” said Tenn. That was why he was there, but he guessed that if he said that, either Riku would think Tenn was some weirdo who walked up to random strangers in parks and unburdened himself upon them or he might start to suspect that this was really  _ Tenn, _ which was a fate worse than death, honestly.

Well, not worse than Riku’s death. Or Gaku’s or Ryuu’s. But worse than Aya’s or Yotsuba’s or Yaotome’s. Definitely worse than Tenn’s. Honestly if Riku saw through his disguise he thought he might die from the embarrassment.

“Alright,” Riku said. “Talk.”

“When we were children...a thing happened.”

“A thing.”

“Yes.”

“Are you gonna name the thing?”

Tenn shook his head. “That’s too specific.”

Riku raised his eyebrows at him. “Too specific? What, are you trying to keep me from finding out who you are and what you’re really talking about, or something?”

“Yes, exactly.” His brother was so smart! “For...tax purposes.”

“Tax purposes,” Riku repeated, skeptically.

“And pirvacy laws.”

Riku raised his eyebrows. “Uh huh. And you came to me to talk about it because…?”

“You seem like a nice, well-adjusted, totally normal human being who I’ve never met before,” Tenn said.

“Right, that’s...normal,” Riku said. “Anyway. A thing happened when you and your brother were children.”

“Yes. I was offered quite a large sum of money for...listen, it  _ wasn’t _ trafficking.”

“That’s reassuring,” Riku muttered.

“My friend Ry--a friend of mine said it was kind of like trafficking, but it wasn’t, it was a totally normal transaction in a totally normal situation. It was completely normal. It wasn’t fucked up at all, there was nothing suspicious or predatory in his actions for me. But. A certain man offered me a large sum of money for me to...accompany him to a place and become his legal son and do a few favors for him.”

Riku blinked at him. “You...do realize that sounds an  _ awful _ lot like human trafficking, right?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. The money was paid to my parents for my brother’s asthma treatment, not to me. And  _ I _ was the one who made the transaction.”

Riku’s eyes widened. “For...asthma treatment?”

“Hypothetically!” Tenn said. “Hypothetically...asthma treatment...listen, it’s a common ailment! An estimated 7.7% of all adults and 8.4% of all children have it, and the number of asthma cases have been increasing consistently since the 1980s! It’s not unlikely!”

“Right, right, of course not. Um, hypothetically of course, how much money was paid to your parents for your brother’s treatment? Would it be equivalent to the winning of a lottery?”

“Yes, that sounds about right,” Tenn said. “Anyway. So the thing happened, and I went away with the man-- _ not _ because I was trafficked, and it wasn’t a sex thing, if that was your next question. Ew. No. Not at all.”

“That’s a relief,” Riku said.

Tenn nodded. “I didn’t think that it might seem like a sex thing until my friend mentioned that’s what most people thought of when you mention that you sold yourself to an older man.”

“No matter how many times you say that, it doesn’t stop sounding absolutely terrible,” Riku told him.

Tenn shrugged. “It’s just the way things are. Anyway. I’ve seen him twice since then. One was just our our...uh, I mean his...and mine...uh...they’re a few weeks apart...our parents had a  _ lot _ of sex...ugh, I wish I never thought or even said that sentence. Anyway. After we both turned fourteen I saw him again. It was a very good day. I got a treat from a bakery food truck and saw him in a park. He looked very happy and very healthy. Then he saw me, and shouted hello. The man who purchased me--in a totally healthy, normal, non-creepy way--had told me--again in a normal, healthy, non-creepy way--that if I ever spoke or interacted with my brother, he would make sure he suffered. And he was capable of that, too. When we were kids and he first tried to take me, I told him him to fuck off to the hell he’d dragged himself out of, and he took away my brother’s doctor. I’ve always protected my brother. I love him so much, he’s the most important thing in the world to me. I would  _ never _ do anything to put him in danger, and besides, I’m obedient, except when it comes to Ga...my, uh, my other friend. So I told him that I had no idea who he was and that I didn’t want anything to do with him and left to let him keep enjoying his day. But then the  _ next _ time I saw him--apparently my other friend had befriended him and wanted to introduce us--he was really mad at me, and I don’t know why.”

“You think it doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that the last time you spoke with him, you told him that you didn’t know him and didn’t want anything to do with him?” Riku asked.

“It was for his own safety,” Tenn said.

“Did he know that?” Riku asked.

Tenn paused, and thought about it for a few moments. “...No, probably not, since I never told him,” he said.

“Well, then, he’s probably really hurt that his beloved older brother acted like he hated him and didn’t want anything to do with him,” Riku said.

“I don’t hate him, though,” Tenn said. “Did you  _ not _ just hear the multiple different times I’ve told you that I love him?”

“I did,” Riku assured him, “and with the context you gave, your actions show that you do, too. But without the context...all he knows is that his brother left with no reason, and when he found him again, he told him that he wanted nothing to do with him and had no clue who he was. That has to hurt, a lot, and since you mentioned your brother was sickly, it seems like he really only had two options to rationalize it with: either he drove you away with his neediness, because you were always taking care of him and because of that grew to hate him, or you never cared about him in the first place and threw him away as soon as a better opportunity showed up. Neither of those really paint you in the best light.”

“That’s not the way it was, though,” Tenn said.

“You never gave him any reason for it,” Riku pointed out. “He would have to invent his own. If I were in your brother’s position, I think I would go with the first option, that you hated me because you always had to care for me, and threw me away when it got to be too much to take. I have a strong support system of friends, and I think the fact that two people who had no reason to care about me would choose to be my friends and would be shocked that my brother left me just for fame and fortune would influence me to not blame myself nearly as much and to be angry at him for leaving me...because the alternative to being angry is being sad, and hurt, and wondering why I’m not good enough and why he hates me so much. I think that eventually, though, the hurt and the anger and the hatred would become too much to bear, and I would do something that...ended up hurting me, and my friends, and maybe him? I don’t know. And I think that would force me to confront my feelings and realize...that I don’t actually hate you, and never did, but I just tried to protect myself by telling myself that’s what it was when in reality, I just love you, and you hurt me.” Riku paused. “If, of course, I were your brother.”

“Which you’re not, since you’re a complete and totally random stranger who I just met today,” Tenn said.

“Exactly.”

“But like if you were--”

“Then that’s how I’d feel.” Riku was looking at Tenn, almost expectantly, before reaching down into the bag at his feet and pulling out a bakery box. He handed it to him. “Here, for you.”

“Why?” asked Tenn.

Riku shrugged. “My boyfriend gave it to me earlier, but I’m not really hungry, and you look like you could use something sweet.”

Tenn smiled at him. “Thank you Ri--random stranger who I only just met today.”

“You’re welcome.” Riku smiled back at him. “Come back anytime.”

“You know,” Tenn said, turning to leave, “I might just take you up on that.”

  
  


Tenn ate the small cake on the train back, savoring the sweet icing and moist sponge. Maybe Izumi Iori wasn’t totally horrible, if he gave Riku such good gifts, and on such a regular basis that Riku was ok with giving them out to random strangers who had just spilled their (heavily redacted so that they stayed a random stranger) life story to him.

He pulled out his wallet when he got back to his house and paid Yotsuba before heading upstairs and changing back into his regular clothes. As much as he wanted to go back and talk to Riku again, the disguise really was inconvenient. He had put a lot of effort into making sure Riku didn’t recognize him, and while it seemed to have paid off, it was a  _ lot _ of trouble.

He changed back into his regular clothes, though, and started to head downstairs when he heard voices.

Aya and Yotsuba were still talking in the living room, clearly having a great time. Yotsuba didn’t seem to have made any preparations to leave, so Tenn strode into the room and cleared his throat.

“When are you leaving?” he asked. “No matter how late you stay, I’m not paying you overtime.”

“He lives here now,” Aya said.

“He absolutely does not, he’s a delinquent and he said he was planning on traveling around, looking for his sister,” Tenn snapped.

“If he doesn’t live here now, I will kill you and then myself,” Aya said.

Tenn was tempted to call her bluff--after all, he had accomplished his goal of explaining himself to Riku--but he was well aware that dying would only hurt his career, so he caved. “Fine. Yotsuba, I guess you live here now. Go find yourself a bedroom, or something.”

“Thanks, Ten-ten!” Yotsuba said.

“What the fuck did you call me,” Tenn said.

“Your name?” 

“Yeah, Ten-ten! He called you by your name!” Aya chimed in.

“I’m moving in with Ryuu,” Tenn groaned, turning and walking into the kitchen to make himself his dinner. 

Aya and Yotsuba followed, and stared at him in abject horror as he cut himself a thick slice of Swiss cheese and piled it high with spray-can whipped cream.

“What the fuck,” said Yotsuba.

“This is my dinner, delinquent,” Tenn said, taking a bite.

“That is an abomination,” Aya told him.

“Can’t you cook?” asked Yotsuba. “Like, at all?”

“Of course I can,” Tenn said, offended. “I just haven’t had any reason to.”

“What would be your reason to cook, then?” Yotsuba said.

“If my younger brother needed to eat.” Tenn opened the refridgerator and grabbed a box of convinenience store donuts. “Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“You could cook for Aya,” Yotsuba said.

“She can cook for herself,” Tenn pointed out.

“Couldn’t your brother?” 

Tenn shrugged. “He was sick. Plus, he’s my younger brother. I enjoy taking care of him.”

“I guess. I feel the same way about my sister,” Yotsuba said.

“Congratulations,” Tenn said. “Are you planning on using this house as your home base when you’re searching for her?”

“Uh,” Yotsuba said.

“You know what? I don’t care, actually,” Tenn told him. “Do whatever you please.” 

He finished off his cheese and headed up to his room.

  
  


“I did it,” Tenn said, plopping down to Ryuu on their break. “I talked to him.”

“Congratulations, Tenn!” Ryuu said, ruffling his hair and smiling internally as Tenn leaned into his hand, just slightly. “I’m really proud of you. So how did it go?”

“I panicked a little, at first, and forgot the speech I’d prepared, but he didn’t recognize me, and I said everything I needed to say, so I’d say it went pretty well.”

Ryuu frowned. “Wait, why didn’t he recognize you?”

“I went in disguise,” Tenn told him. “That was what the disguise was  _ for, _ so he wouldn’t know it was me saying all that!”

“That’s ridiculous, Tenn,” Ryuu said. “You should talk to him as yourself, not pretending to be someone else.”

“Wait, why’s Tenn pretending to be someone else?” Gaku asked, opening the door.

“I went to speak to your friend Riku yesterday, in disguise,” Tenn said. “I had a good time.”

“Oh, you were the guy in the park with the strange wig that he told me about,” Gaku said. “I’ll tell him it was really you, I’m sure he’ll be cool with it. He’s a pretty chill guy.”

“No, don’t!” Tenn yelped.

“It’ll be fine,” Gaku assured him, although Ryuu wasn’t quite sure that was true. “Look, I’m sure he won’t hold it against you or anything, it was one conversation.”

“He definitely will, don’t you fucking dare tell him--”

Gaku flipped his phone screen around to show a text string, with the latest text reading:  _ tenn just told me that he’s the wig guy you were talking to yesterday lol _

Tenn let out a wordless shriek of rage and snatched the phone out of Gaku’s hands, quickly typing out another message: _Ha ha I am just kidding. My sense of humor is terrible and I have no regard for what is funny and what is not, unlike my amazing, funny, smart, sensitive, loving, and incredible center, Tenn, who knows what humor really is and is a great member of Trigger._

“Hey!” Gaku went to snatch the phone back, but Ryuu grabbed it before he could.

“Seriously, guys?” he said. “Gaku, Tenn has his reasons for wanting Nanase not to know who he is. Tenn, you can’t grab people’s phones without asking--hey!”

Tenn had clearly ignored everything he said and had lunged at Gaku and bitten him. Gaku pulled Tenn off him, but Tenn was clearly going wild, and Ryuu stared at the whirling fists and legs before deciding that, actually, his physical wellbeing was more important than breaking up this fight, and looking down at the phone still in his hands, which was vibrating with incoming texts.

**the sweet child:** Noooooooo

**the sweet child:** i would NEVER have EVER guessed

**the sweet child:** it TOTALLY wasn’t at ALL in ANY way obvious

**the sweet child:** (also please tell him i had a good time and i’m not mad at him anymore!!!)

“Uh, guys?” Ryuu said.

Gaku and Tenn ignored him, still scuffling on the floor. Tenn was fighting  _ dirty, _ and Ryuu wondered how he’d lost to the Izumi brothers in their fight a few weeks back if he wasn’t afraid to behave like  _ that _ against Gaku, who was pretty clearly on the defensive and pulling his punches.

“Guys!”

They still ignored him, so Ryuu put the phone down and grabbed the still-kicking and screaming Tenn and hauled him backwards.

“What the hell’s your problem, Tenn?!” shouted Gaku, holding his shirt against the bleeding scratch on his face.

_ “HE’S MY FUCKING BROTHER!” _ Tenn shrieked.  _ “HE’S MY FUCKING BROTHER, AND THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY I WAS ABLE TO SPEAK TO HIM, AND NOW YOU’VE RUINED IT! YOU’VE RUINED  _ _ EVERYTHING _ _!” _

Gaku’s face went white. “Oh…” he said. “Oh, shit. Shit. I...Tenn, I’m so sorry, I didn’t...I  _ never _ would have done that if I’d known.”

“YOU STILL DID IT!” Tenn screamed. “You still--you still--”

His voice broke, and he hung limply from Ryuu’s arms, sobbing.

“You’ve ruined everything,” he cried. “You’ve ruined everything.”

“I’m sorry,” Gaku whispered. “I didn’t know, Tenn, I swear. I had no idea.”

“Actually,” Ryuu said, “not everything might be ruined. Gaku, why don’t you read us Nanase’s response to the...very mature and subtle texts the two of you sent?”

“He didn’t believe my text, did he,” Tenn muttered, still shaking with repressed tears.

“Well...no, but it doesn’t seem as bad you you’re saying,” Ryuu said. “Gaku? The texts?”

“Right.” Gaku grabbed his phone and turned it on. His eyebrows shot up his face. “Woah, that’s sarcastic.”

Tenn made a sad, small noise.

“Alright, so Riku said, ‘Nooooo, I would NEVER have EVER guessed, it TOTALLY wasn’t at ALL in ANY way obvious’, and then he said to tell you that he had a good time and isn’t mad anymore.”

Tenn stared at Gaku. “What?” 

“Apparently he knew it was you the entire time, and isn’t angry at you anymore,” Gaku said. “Well, I guess that saves me from kicking his ass, then.”

“Gaku, if you lay one single, solitary, violent finger on my brother I’m tearing out your throat with my teeth,” Tenn said.

“...Right,” Gaku said. “So, uh, how did that whole...situation happen, anyway?”

“Apparently he trafficked himself,” Ryuu said.

Gaku’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It wasn’t trafficking, it was an ordinary business transaction,” Tenn huffed. “Honestly, I don’t see why you keep making it sound so bad.”

“Because it is!” Ryuu said. “That is a very bad, very awful situation!”

Tenn rolled his eyes, and Ryuu restrained himself from explaining in full exactly how fucked up Tenn’s childhood must have been.

Tenn turned to face Gaku, looking as composed and professional as he could after having had a full-blown temper tantrum less than two minutes before. “When we were thirteen, Kujo closed our parents’ club. I sold myself to him in exchange for him paying for Riku’s medicine. However, I recently learned that our parents told Riku they had won the lottery rather than explain where the money had really come from. Kujo informed me that, were I to retain any contact with my birth family, he would kill Riku. So I had no contact with them. Any questions?”

“Yes,” said Gaku. “Why didn’t you call the police about this?”

Tenn frowned. “Why would I? It was a totally normal situation.”

“No…” Gaku said, “no...it wasn’t, it wasn’t at all...thank God the asshole’s dead.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tenn said. “I haven’t had to eat a vegetable in two weeks, and I was able to talk to Riku in disguise.” He shot Gaku a glare. “That is, until you ruined it.”

“According to these texts, he knew it was you all along,” Gaku said.

“Which is odd, because you looked  _ nothing _ like yourself in that outfit,” Ryuu said.

“What was the outfit?” Gaku said. “I mean, I know there was a crazy wig, but…”

“He had a bright pink, long wig, a Mexican sombrero, and every inch of him was covered in clothing of all types. Plus, he caked on a whole bunch of makeup on his face--he looked entirely unrecognizable.”

“He would have stuck out like a sore thumb, though,” Gaku said. “Also...I was kind of aware that you had big plans for yesterday, and I mentioned that fact to Riku, so he may have put two and tow together a bit easier, then.”

“Well that’s just wonderful,” Tenn muttered.

“You say that like any sane person wouldn’t have booked it if a random stranger in that getup sat down next to them and presumably started talking to them,” Gaku said.

“That’s extremely unprofessional behavior,” Tenn said. “Regardless of what they’re wearing, if someone comes to speak to you, you stay and listen and sign autographs.”

“That’s idol etiquette, not actual human being etiquette,” Gaku said. “Regular people would just turn and run the other way if that happened.”

“...Oh,” Tenn said.

“Anyway, do you want Riku’s phone number?” Gaku asked. “Because I could totally give you his phone number.”

Tenn paused, considering. “Ask him,” he said. “And if he’s ok with it, then yes. I would  _ definitely _ like his phone number.”

Gaku nodded, and Ryuu carefully let go of Tenn. Luckily, he did not try to do anything drastic like punch Gaku or steal his phone or anything. Instead, he went and pulled out his phone and fiddled with it, clearly trying not to look apprehensive about it.

“He said yes,” Gaku said, less than a minute after sending the text. “I’m sending his contact now.”

“Thanks,” Tenn said. Ryuu watched as the text came through and Tenn immediately saved the contact, before typing out a message.

**the evil child:** This is Tenn. Hello. I’ve missed you. Also I would never be caught dead in a sombrero. But I agree with everything that completely random stranger said.

**the sweet child:** hi! i’m glad to hear that lol, i’ve missed you too <3

**the sweet child:** sorry for yelling at you the other night btw

“Wait, he did remember that?” Ryuu said.

“Does it matter?” Tenn said, angling the screen away from him. “We’re speaking. Things are going to be ok now.”


End file.
